


Resting in the Tide Pools

by eilonwy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst and Humor, F/M, HP: EWE, Honeymoon, Implied Sexual Content, Loving Marriage, Post-Hogwarts, Romance, Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-14
Updated: 2012-09-14
Packaged: 2017-11-14 04:47:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/511471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eilonwy/pseuds/eilonwy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At a brand-new juncture in life, there is sometimes the impulse to look back and take stock.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Resting in the Tide Pools

[ ](http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q162/miriamele3/?action=view%C2%A4t=1_eilonwy-1-1.jpg)

Resting in the Tide Pools

July 2010

 

Morning.

Shore birds heralded the new day with their insistent chorus, calling as they soared high above the crystalline water and then swiftly skimming its sparkling surface to pick up a bit of breakfast.

Sunlight flooded the windows, illuminating gauzy, roll-up shades that flapped lazily against the wooden frames. It would be another hot day, but ocean breezes would keep the bright, airy beach house cool and comfortable.

In the generously sized bed, a man and woman lay quite still, their limbs entwined and tangled in the sheets, tousled hair damp with sweat. His arm was thrown carelessly across her bare back, where errant curls stuck to her skin. 

“Bloody birds...” 

The voice was muffled, its owner’s face half-mashed into his pillow. One grey eye opened reluctantly, just a slit at first. Then the world came into sharper focus and his gaze fell on the girl still asleep by his side. Smiling tenderly, he moved closer and dropped a light kiss on her shoulder, his arm still draped over her possessively. 

“Mmm... that’s nice...”

“Did I wake you?” he whispered, burying his fingers in the silken mass of her hair and moving it aside so he could nuzzle her neck. 

“Mmm hmm.” She smiled sleepily, her eyes still closed. “Morning, Malfoy.”

“Don’t you think, _Granger_ ,” he teased, sprinkling tiny kisses from her neck up to her jaw, “that it’s about time we were on a strictly first-name basis? We’ve been married three whole days. Not to mention being together for over a year.”

“I suppose so,” she sighed. “But a part of me will always think of you as ‘Malfoy,’ even if we’re married for a hundred years.” 

“Merlin,” he laughed, rolling over onto his back now and pulling her into his arms. “Now there’s a scary thought!”

“Not at all! I bet we’d be sweet old things, doddering about together!” The young woman pressed a kiss to the smooth skin of her husband’s chest and then raised her head to pout playfully at him. “Hey, don’t you _want_ to be married to me for the next hundred years?”

Draco Malfoy cocked his head to one side, narrowing his eyes. “Hmm. Tell you what,” he deadpanned. “Ask me again six months from now. If we haven’t murdered each other by then, I reckon my answer will be yes.” He paused, mouth twitching. “Probably.”

Moving to settle herself comfortably between his legs, one finger idly tracing patterns on his chest, Hermione Granger-Malfoy gave a small snort. “Oh, I see! You’re just lucky I didn’t murder you several times over whilst we were at school!”

“Not for lack of trying! That slap third year very nearly dislocated my jaw!”

Amused, she rolled her eyes. “That’s just silly! Besides, you had it coming and you know it.” 

The grin faded from his face, his eyes darkening with the sudden rush of memories. “True. I was an insufferable little shit, especially to you.” Smoothing a curl out of her eyes, he heaved a pensive sigh. “Funny…” 

“What is?”

“How things turn out sometimes. Us. Who would have imagined… and yet, here we are.”

“Yes, well… we’ve grown up, haven’t we. You’re not that boy anymore.”

“It only took a war…” His words were tinged with momentary bitterness.

“At least you got it right in the end. Some people never did.”

Draco nodded. Unbidden, Vincent Crabbe’s face swam into his thoughts.

“The war changed _all_ of us,” she went on. “Everybody. People _died_. We’re two of the lucky ones.”

He glanced away for a moment, meeting her eyes at last with a small, rueful smile. “No arguments there. I just wish–”

Hermione laid a gentle hand over his mouth. “I know. But what really matters is who you are now, what you’ve made of yourself.”

In reply, Draco pulled her down, clasping her fiercely to his chest. Her heartbeat, rhythmic and constant as the tides, pulsed in tandem with his own. This was something sure, something real. 

“Reckon I can stand you for a century or two,” he whispered.

[ ](http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q162/miriamele3/?action=view%C2%A4t=button_eilonwy-1.jpg)

FIN

**Author's Note:**

> This little story came about because of a special request from bunney. She planned not only to attend Ascendio in July of 2012, in Orlando, Florida, but also to host a Dramione meet-up and panel discussion at the con. Her idea was to make up pretty, fun favor bags for all the people who came to the meet-up, and she wanted to include a drabble that she would print up on special parchment-like paper and decorate with the Hogwarts seal. She also wanted to include a postcard and button featuring Dramione artwork. I was thrilled to write the drabble for her, working with a tropical, beachy theme that would mesh nicely with the Florida setting of the con. Happily, ningloreth was able to create some perfectly lovely art for the postcard and button. 
> 
> When writing the drabble, I imagined Draco and Hermione on the breathtaking island of Crete, newly married, just a few days after he proposed to her at the conclusion of "Pearls After Swine," and a snippet of conversation they might have one morning. The images that ningloreth created worked beautifully, both for the postcard and button and also for my drabble, so I asked her to make one into a banner and the other into an image that would put a nice finish on the story. 
> 
> Thanks to bunney for commissioning this little story (thus including me in the con festivities by extension) and then beta-reading it, and to ningloreth, for her brilliant artwork!


End file.
